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Message: <blockquote data-quote="peteyfrogboy" data-source="post: 1116341" data-attributes="member: 5677">It Takes A ThiefGurik Rostov Praefis stood as the door opened. "Good morning. How may I be of service to you today?"The woman's eyes swept across the various display cases in the front room of Gurik's house. She was dressed in fine, yet sober clothes. She clearly had some money, though it was hard to gauge how much. "I'm looking for a gift for a friend," she said. "He's a coin collector. Might you have anything of that nature?"The antique dealer smiled. "Of course." He walked across the room, opening one of the cases. He withdrew a padded case holding a variety of coins. "Here is a selection of coins from the Far West. Not antique, but a curiosity popular with many collectors.""Hmm, not quite what I was looking for. Do you have anything else?" Gurik showed her a variety of ancient Kufriti coins, Ahandrian trade chits, crusade tokens, and Dhevril moon disks, but none of them piqued her interest. "No," she said, "I was looking for something a little more special.""Well, this is all I have in the way of coins." That I'm willing to sell, he thought. "Is there anything else your friend might be interested in? A particular region, perhaps?"The woman frowned slightly. "He does have some interest in Kufriti metalwork.""Ah, I can certainly help you there. I can select some pieces from my collection and arrange a viewing for you this evening, if you like.""Tomorrow morning would be more convenient."Gurik nodded. "Tomorrow morning, then. I look forward to it."***Parika tossed her new gown on the bed and bean changing into her old traveling gear. She had hoped for more success posing as a customer, but if Gurik had a coin collection worth stealing he had either sold it already or it wasn't for sale. At least she had gotten a look inside. The front room of the house had one door leading back further into the house and one locked door leading into a corner room that had a curtained window facing the street. There was one guard by that door, heavily armed. The display cases in the front room weren't even locked, so there probably wasn't anything of great value in them.She finished lacing her boots and headed back out. There wasn't enough traffic on Hudson Street for her to easily blend in. The street emptied into the collection of tents in Drac's End, however, which would give at least a view of the street. It wasn't the most pleasant place to stake her target out from, but it would have to do.***Eight hours is long enough. Since she had started watching the street outside Gurik's house, Parika had seen one man she didn't recognize leave with a basket and return, and after sunset she saw another man leave who had not yet come back. That brought the total number of guards she had seen to three, two of whom were presumably still inside. She strolled down the street, taking a good look at the house as she passed. It was a two-story structure, attached to a cabinetry shop on one side and open to an alley on the other. There was the front door and one curtained window on the ground floor, and another window on the second floor. There was no light to be seen through the windows. After passing by, she doubled back and returned under the cover of shadows. She crept down the alley, easily opening the locked wooden gate that blocked access to the courtyard beyond. The courtyard was empty save for a public pump house like the one behind the Goodhearth Inn. The rear of the house offered much the same access as the front: a door and window on the ground floor with another window above. Again, there was no light to be seen.Working by the light of the moon, Parika tried the lock on the back door. It didn't yield easily, so she tried the window. The lock on the window was easier to defeat, but when she tried to lift the sash it creaked loudly. She quickly lowered it again as she heard footsteps moving from the front of the house toward her. She dashed back into the alley and waited quietly. No alarm was raised, so she waited a hundred heartbeats and went back to try the door again. This time she was able to pick the lock, and she carefully eased the door open. Beyond was a kitchen, dark and empty. She slipped inside, closing the door behind her.There were two doors leading out of the kitchen, one across from the courtyard door and one opposite the alley wall. She opted to check the latter first, opening the door a crack and peering inside. She caught a brief glimpse of a dining room lit by a single dim lamp, with stairs across the room from her. As she opened the door, however, she heard the sound of a chair scraping on wood from inside the room. She went back out to the courtyard only seconds before a guard poked his head into the kitchen.As Parika crouched behind the pump house, she heard the laughing voice of someone coming in through the front door. As if she weren't having enough trouble, there was likely a third guard to deal with now. Forging onward, she slipped into the kitchen again, this time opening the door across from her. She could barely make out the shelves of a larder inside before she heard the guard in the dining room moving again. She ducked inside the pantry, closing the door behind her. The guard made a circuit of the kitchen as Parika held her breath, but he left again without finding her.I think I've pushed my luck far enough, she thought.***Snick scratched his chin as he studied Parika's rough drawing of the house. "Three guards, you say? That's pretty tight security for such a small place. It's probably for the best that you got out when you did. It's a wise thief who knows when to cut and run." The mild compliment did little to ease Parika's sense of failure. "I think I could do it with some help, but I don't think I could round up enough by myself." She had, in fact, tried to subtly recruit both Rachel and Nevroth, but neither had been very interested."I think we may take another approach to this," Snick mused, then shrugged. "It's not really my decision, though. Keep in touch; if there's any other work for you that comes up, I'll let you know."DM Notes:* This episode was actually played after the next post.</blockquote>

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